Let me begin this post by saying that we are by no means tree-hugging hippies, I’ve always been intrigued by cloth diapers, and the more research I did throughout my pregnancy, the more I was convinced that cloth was best for us. However, I totally understand cloth isn’t for everyone. There are times I have to make myself to do another load of diapers and I’m still working on getting the hubs 100% on board. Cloth diapers have come a long way, but most people don’t understand that and you will get lots of questions when people find out you’re using cloth, just be prepared.
So, cloth diapers: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.
We started out with two different kinds of diapers, Charlie Banana and Fuzzibunz. The Charlie Banana are, by far, my favorite. We bought 24 Charlie Banana and 4 Fuzzibunz, but I ended up selling the Fuzzibunz on Craigslist because I just could not get them to work. So now we have 24 cloth diapers, and that’s plenty for us, I launder them every other day and that still leaves us a few extra.
Like I said in a previous post, we didn’t end up using cloth exclusively until Avery was about 8 weeks old. Any earlier, the diapers were so big that they just looked uncomfortable on his tiny body. Initially, the diapers were a big investment, but it won’t take long before they pay for themselves. Plus, we won’t have to buy anymore for our kids in the future.
We also just started using these | reusable wipes | and it makes cloth diapering much easier. Having to dig through a dirty diaper to get the wipes out isn’t the most glamorous job, but with reusable wipes, everything can be thrown into the washer at once. Plus, the wipes come in adorable patterns, and no two are the same.
We started off with just 1 | wet bag | but ended up buying another one when all the dirty diapers wouldn’t fit into just 1. I also got a smaller | wet bag | to keep in the diaper bag that just holds a few diapers when we’re out and about.
Laundering them isn’t nearly as bad as I thought, in fact, there’s virtually no touching of the dirty diapers once they’re in the wet bag that hangs in his closet. Just unzip the zipper and drop them into the washer.
One other plus to note is that we’ve never had a blowout escape the diaper. Hallelujah! Cloth diapers fit pretty snug if they’re on right, so essentially, everything stays in the diaper.
Finally, much to my disbelief, these diapers don’t stain! In the summer, I was drying them outside and the sun would bleach them out amazingly well- they looked brand new each time!
. . .
We have run into a few issues when it comes to cloth, but nothing that would make me stop using them altogether. The first problem (and it’s not necessarily even a problem), but cloth diapered babies need to be changed more often. Not a big deal if you have enough diapers on hand.
Second, I’ve found that if any part of the fleece is touching his clothes, they wick. They don’t leak, they just wick onto his clothes, which is super annoying, but easily avoidable if I’m diligent about making sure all of the fleece is tucked inside of the diaper.
Third, the diapers stink, and we’re still working through this. Now that fall is here and I can’t dry the diapers out in the sun, I’ve found that they have a gross smell to them every time I take one off. I think when we’re done with the current detergent we’re using, I’ll try switching to another. A typical cycle is pre-wash in hot, then wash with detergent and a second rinse in warm. And they’re still stinky. Not overly, just annoyingly. If anyone has suggestions, I’d LOVE to hear them!
Finally, now that’s he’s sleeping longer at night, we put him in a disposable to sleep, otherwise, he wakes up soaking! I haven’t ever tried double-stuffing them at night, only because it looks super uncomfortable. So for now, he’s in a disposable at night.
We also do disposables when we go on vacation, (because no one likes to lug dirty diapers home), or if I know someone will be watching him for a few hours. I’m not one who feels guilty about slapping a disposable on her baby every now and then. And a pack of 40 disposables will last us a little less than a month, which I’m not complaining about, seeing as how we’re only spending about $7 a month on diapers.
There you have it! Our experience with cloth diapers the last 5 months, it’s not glamorous, but his diaper booty is pretty dang adorable!
